Early reports are that Reed, who lives in Nipomo, had trouble breathing early in the morning and was taken to an area hospital where he went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

In March 2000, Reed went public with an accusation that Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight had choked him during a Hoosiers practice three years earlier. A month later, video of the incident surfaced. A few months after that, Knight, at the time the winningest coach in Division I, was fired after an altercation in which he physically confronted another Indiana student.

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Reed transferred to Southern Miss shortly after the choking incident happened. He earned his degree there and later worked interned briefly for ESPN before moving to California and getting a master's degree and a teaching certificate. He leaves behind a wife and two daughters. He was 36.